Biafran airlift

The Biafran Airlift was an international humanitarian relief effort that transported food and medicine to Biafra during the 1967-70 secession war from Nigeria (Nigerian Civil War). It was the largest civilian airlift, and after the Berlin airlift of 1948-49, the largest non-combatant airlift of any kind ever carried out. The airlift was largely a series of joint efforts by Protestant and Catholic church groups, and other non-governmental organizations (NGO)s, operating civilian and military aircraft with volunteer (mostly) civilian crews and support personnel. Several national governments also supported the effort, mostly behind the scenes. This sustained joint effort, which lasted one and a half times as long as its Berlin predecessor, is estimated to have saved more than a million lives.

Background

By 1968, a year after the start of the Nigerian Civil War, large numbers of children were reported starving to death due to a blockade imposed by the Federal Military Government (FMG) and military. By 1969 it was reported that over 1,000 children per day were starving to death. A FMG representative declared, “Starvation is a legitimate weapon of war, and we have every intention of using it.” With the advent of global television reporting, for the first time, famine, starvation and humanitarian response were seen nightly on world television. People around the world demanded action.

Biafra

Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in then southeastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra (the Atlantic bay to its south). The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. The creation of the new state that was pushing for recognition was among the causes of the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War.

The state was formally recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia, USA. Other nations which did not give official recognition but which did provide support and assistance to Biafra included Israel, France, Spain, Portugal, Rhodesia, South Africa and Vatican City. Biafra also received aid from non-state actors, including Joint Church Aid, Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland, Caritas International, MarkPress and U.S. Catholic Relief Services.

After two-and-a-half years of war, during which over three million civilians died in fighting and from starvation resulting from blockades, Biafran forces under the slogan 'no-victor, no-vanquish' surrendered to the Nigerian Federal Military Government (FMG), and Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria.